A travel question........Which calls/SMS providor?.........

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Warmingup - 15 Jul 2004 05:33 GMT

My daughter is heading off for a 6 months backpacking holiday. She wants to
be able to recieve and send SMSs
as well as for use as an emergency phone.

What would be a good way to do this........She wants effectively an "SMS
only" phone so her friends can keep in touch and vice versa but doesn't want
to be spending any real money on calls in or out.

She is also concerned that if she looses the phone that it may be u$ed by
others....

A prepaid that can be topped up from here as well as there?

or.........Buy a prepaid in Europe?

REgards,

Warmingup

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The Family - 15 Jul 2004 12:24 GMT

Prepaids with int'l roaming are not issued by any Aust carrier. It's all
postpaid with the attendant credit check. No big deal if she loses the
phone - just make sure it's PIN-protected and get in touch with the provider
to suspend the account ASAP.

If the credit issue is a problem, she's better off looking for a prepaid
deal in Europe. I think Virgin UK offers Prepaid with int'l roaming.

> My daughter is heading off for a 6 months backpacking holiday. She wants to
> be able to recieve and send SMSs
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> Warmingup

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thegoons - 15 Jul 2004 12:30 GMT

> Prepaids with int'l roaming are not issued by any Aust carrier. It's all
> postpaid with the attendant credit check. No big deal if she loses the
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> If the credit issue is a problem, she's better off looking for a prepaid
> deal in Europe. I think Virgin UK offers Prepaid with int'l roaming.

Yes, they do. And, you do not need to activate the Virgin prepaid SIM cards,
they work as soon as you take it out of the packet. Can buy them fairly
cheap on ebay. However once you are outside the UK, topping up might be an
issue.

Refer: http://alan.uni-hd.de/Handy/UK_SIMs-ENGLISH.html

> > My daughter is heading off for a 6 months backpacking holiday. She wants
> to
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> >
> > Warmingup

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The Family - 15 Jul 2004 12:53 GMT

Can the Virgin UK prepaid Sims be topped up with a Visa card, like in
Australia?

> > Prepaids with int'l roaming are not issued by any Aust carrier. It's all
> > postpaid with the attendant credit check. No big deal if she loses the
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
> > >
> > > Warmingup

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Mal - 15 Jul 2004 13:26 GMT

I think the charges for roaming on prepaid (or postpaid) from England to
Europe are pretty expensive --- well they were when I looked at them.

Roaming from Australia will probably be a cheaper option overall if you
can get a cheap usage only type of plan.

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kcoj - 16 Jul 2004 01:07 GMT

Vodafone good option
buy prepay here and then buy top up card in country of destination no
problems

> My daughter is heading off for a 6 months backpacking holiday. She wants to
> be able to recieve and send SMSs
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> Warmingup

Reply to this Message

The Family - 16 Jul 2004 05:55 GMT

Not an option. An Australian Vodafone Prepaid SIM won't work anywhere
except Australia.

> Vodafone good option
> buy prepay here and then buy top up card in country of destination no
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> >
> > Warmingup

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Carole - 24 Jul 2004 03:27 GMT

Buy either a phone that's not locked or you can buy a prepaid phone (Nokia
1100) from Virgin for $99. Unlock it from Virgin before she goes overseas
by topping up the account with at least $50. Then if her first stop is the
UK, she can buy a Virgin prepaid sim card for 10 pounds which includes 5
pounds of free airtime. SMS to Australia is 20 pence. Call costs to
Australia 20p/minute. Calls within the UK are 15p for first 5 minutes, then
5p/minute after that - 24 hours/day.

Have a look at the UK Virgin site for more details on using the phone when
outside the UK
http://www.virginmobile.com/mobile/services/abroad/payasyougo/pay_as_you_go.jsp

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eloquentloser - 26 Jul 2004 04:16 GMT

Recently I was in Spain, using roaming on simPLUS - this seemed to work
fine for SMS, but when I purchased a local prepaid, Voda or Virgin,
can't remember which, SMS msgs to my girlfriend on Telstra only worked
in one direction - ie I would receive hers, but she wouldn't receive
mine (or vice versa - my memory is addled)

el

> My daughter is heading off for a 6 months backpacking holiday. She wants to
> be able to recieve and send SMSs
> as well as for use as an emergency phone.

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John Smith - 28 Jul 2004 14:17 GMT

> Recently I was in Spain, using roaming on simPLUS - this seemed to work
> fine for SMS, but when I purchased a local prepaid, Voda or Virgin,
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> el

sure, you couldnt send, because the number you send to is a setting in the phone

Its called the 'service centre'. you should have asked this number
and changed it on your phone.

>> My daughter is heading off for a 6 months backpacking holiday. She wants to
>> be able to recieve and send SMSs
>> as well as for use as an emergency phone.

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Michael - 29 Jul 2004 12:05 GMT

> > Recently I was in Spain, using roaming on simPLUS - this seemed to work
> > fine for SMS, but when I purchased a local prepaid, Voda or Virgin,
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> Its called the 'service centre'. you should have asked this number
> and changed it on your phone.

Crapshit.

The SMSC is stored on the SIM, NOT the phone.

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